Copyright © 2009 by Anna Surface. All Rights Reserved.
It is interesting how many of the older highways were designed to curve around hills, farmlands, and the structures of a town. From what I recall reading was that roads from long ago were set down to follow the trails of wildlife. In Silver Lake, Kansas, Highway 24 sharply curves into the small farm town. The heavily used highway is north of Interstate 70. I was taking photos of the downtown area when I turned and noticed the semi-trucks that were to pass each other and the house at the end. The house at the end of the curved highway had a bike propped under the lower window but cannot be clearly seen because of the shadows. On the other side of the road is an old blue Chevrolet parked and gathering dust. What interested me was the speed limit sign of 30 MPH. Now, if these two semi-trucks were actually going at that speed, I don’t see how they could navigate the curve and would careen into each other or off the road. And there is that house at the end. A very nice blue house; however, I would not be comfortable living there right on the curve of that busy highway.
The top photo is as it was taken in full wide view. I like it because of all the near and far variables and subjects. I cropped the photo, below, to bring in closer the trucks, albeit, the bike under the window still doesn’t show up in this version either. I like the cropped, almost square version just as well as the original.
Anna Surface
Preston Surface
7 Comments
Awesome shot….living in the blue house would be no fun at all.
Raven
http://cherokeebydesign.wordpress.com/
This is an interesting post. Because you are accustomed to long straight roads you notice bends. In the UK I wouldn’t notice a bend but would take a photo of a long straight road.
I like the square versions as well, many of our roads and highways are like this with the addition of the deep river valley, nice shots !!
I’m hoping that the road was built around that big old tree on the right! I agree that I wouldn’t want to live in that house!
Our highways (or, rather, what corresponds with the American Interstate Highways) do not have so many curves because they are usually designed for speeds between 69 and 75mph and they seldom go through cities or villages, but many of the roads on the countryside can be full of bends and curves because their history dates much further back than the history of cars; we may even refer to some of them as “cow trails” (a more sophisticated way of cursing them).
Hi Staffan. It seems that the USA highways were built to go through any town or city. And some of the curved roads or definitely hair-pin turns. Yep, cow trails for sure.